We rooted Wii U encryption and file system, says hacker group

Nintendo says it has "no reports" of unauthorized game playing.

The hacking group responsible for one of the first major modchips for the original Wii claims to have successfully reverse-engineered the pieces necessary to run copies of Wii U games from external USB hard drives.

"Yes, it's real," the Wiikey group posted in an update on its website. "We have now completely reversed the Wii U drive authentification, disk encryption, file system, and everything else needed for this next generation K3y. Stay tuned for updates!"

The group describes the Wiike U, as it's being called, as "the first and only optical drive emulator" for the system, running a "powerful embedded Linux system" that is compatible with all regions and models of the Wii U. As described, the device appears to only play copies of official Wii U and Wii games, and not homebrew or hacked titles.

The Wiikey group hasn't released any proof of their exploit, save for a few lines of cryptic hex code, and the USB device isn't available for purchase just yet. Nintendo, for its part, is pushing back against the idea that the Wii U's security has been compromised.

"Nintendo is aware that a hacking group claims to have compromised Wii U security," the company said in a statement. "However, we have no reports of illegal Wii U games nor unauthorized applications playable on the system while in Wii U mode. Nintendo continuously monitors all threats to its products' security and will use technology and will take the necessary legal steps to prevent the facilitation of piracy."

Note that Nintendo didn't specifically say that the hacking group didn't manage to reverse engineer the Wii U's file encryption, only that it has "no reports" of unauthorized gameplay as of yet. So it's possible that both groups are, in fact, telling the truth here.

If and when the Wiike U is released into the wild, Nintendo could probably issue a mandatory system update that once again re-encrypts its file system... which the hackers will then attempt to reverse-engineer. And the never-ending battle between hackers and console makers continues.

Promoted Comments

Normally, hacker groups first publish these exploits under the banner of "enabling homebrew and unlicensed software" as if they were doing the player base a service. The piracy and other related activities surface down the line a bit.

Now, they're not afraid to admit that the piracy was the intended endgame.

It's a shame, too. The Wii U was already hurting for third-party support, and this isn't going to help at all.

The comments and information flying around about this hack and what it supposedly 'adds' to the console just really highlight how crappy Nintendo has been about marketing what this console can actually do.

Case in point: YOU CAN ALREADY USE AN EXTERNAL USB HARD DRIVE FOR GAMES WITH THE WII U, WITH NO HACKS.

Now, you can't buy a disc and then install that disc to the USB hard drive. YOU CAN however purchase a game on the eShop and have it save and run from the external USB device. I have a bog-standard 2.5-inch 500 gig USB drive hooked up to mine (a Western Digital). Unlike MS with the 360, Nintendo don't make you pay exorbitant prices for proprietary storage. So yeah, my Black 32GB Wii U is actually a Black 532GB Wii U.

Did I mention that all new full releases get an eShop release simultaneously with their disc release? Yeah, so playing full games off a USB device with no discs is a real thing you can do on a Wii U right now, legitimately.

I also find it HIGHLY HIGHLY offensive that this group gets lumped in with the homebrewers, as others have mentioned. Homebrew is not about piracy. I homebrewed my Wii to mess around, install the disc games I had and just generally because I could. I'm not interested in piracy. I DO like the convenience of digital distribution. It's so frustrating that Nintendo gets this so right, yet they're not telling people about it and so you get crap like this, where people think "OMG this thing lets you play games off USB! how new!". Argh.

Nintendo have made a great little machine, but man they've dropped the ball on marketing it.

Normally, hacker groups first publish these exploits under the banner of "enabling homebrew and unlicensed software" as if they were doing the player base a service. The piracy and other related activities surface down the line a bit.

Now, they're not afraid to admit that the piracy was the intended endgame.

It's a shame, too. The Wii U was already hurting for third-party support, and this isn't going to help at all.

And in other news: Nintendo sold 5 additional consoles today based on the buyers anticipation of being able to play pirated games in the near future.

And another 50,000 returned their systems to the retailer they purchased them from with the reasoning "I'd rather wait for the PS4".

You jest, but so far I am really disappointed in my 32GB black Wii U. I really am considering returning it. I was gonna get a PS4 anyway.

EDIT: I softmodded my Wii so that I could back up my legitimate Wii games. Games like Metroid Prime Trilogy are very expensive to find and if I can keep mine in perfect condition without wear and tear on the actual disc, then I will. I've also enabled the DVD playback that Nintendo lied and said was impossible on the system.

The original Wii had what, a couple dozen updates during its life, of which maybe 2 or 3 added functionality and the rest were just to try to block modchips. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the WiiU goes down a similar path.

And in other news: Nintendo sold 5 additional consoles today based on the buyers anticipation of being able to play pirated games in the near future.

And another 50,000 returned their systems to the retailer they purchased them from with the reasoning "I'd rather wait for the PS4".

You jest, but so far I am really disappointed in my 32GB black Wii U. I really am considering returning it. I was gonna get a PS4 anyway.

EDIT: I softmodded my Wii so that I could back up my legitimate Wii games. Games like Metroid Prime Trilogy are very expensive to find and if I can keep mine in perfect condition without wear and tear on the actual disc, then I will. I've also enabled the DVD playback that Nintendo lied and said was impossible on the system.

Anyone with kids would greatly benefit from softmodding their Wii and installing the games to a USB drive(you do the ripping yourself of your own games, so this is not piracy, although may still be an issue under the law). Keeps the discs nice and pristine and prevents the common disc drive failures from happening.

As for DVD playback, it is not impossible, but it alters the drive speeds and can wear the drive out faster. So they lied about it being impossible, but it isn't recommended.

And in other news: Nintendo sold 5 additional consoles today based on the buyers anticipation of being able to play pirated games in the near future.

And another 50,000 returned their systems to the retailer they purchased them from with the reasoning "I'd rather wait for the PS4".

You jest, but so far I am really disappointed in my 32GB black Wii U. I really am considering returning it. I was gonna get a PS4 anyway.

EDIT: I softmodded my Wii so that I could back up my legitimate Wii games. Games like Metroid Prime Trilogy are very expensive to find and if I can keep mine in perfect condition without wear and tear on the actual disc, then I will. I've also enabled the DVD playback that Nintendo lied and said was impossible on the system.

DVD is impossible on the Wii....because Nintendo didn't want to pay the licencing fees associated with enabling DVD playback! That said you really have nothing else to play DVDs hooked up to your TV other than a Wii?

I don't know seems like Nintendo's bigger problem is that even pushy salesmen at stores don't try to sell me a Wii-U, I think I have seen two commercials ever for one, and I haven't seen a commercial yet for any Wii U game. If it wasnt for the fact that Ars occassionally mention it, I would honestly forget it exists. And god knows don't ask me to describe what one looks like.

New rumors suggest the box will have the capability but enforcement methods are up to the individual studios

AKA the "big boys" of gaming(EA, Activision, Ubisoft) can take the real blame and not microsoft. Also if Sony doesn't offer some type of similar system MS can then use that to have leverage for exclusivity.

Normally, hacker groups first publish these exploits under the banner of "enabling homebrew and unlicensed software" as if they were doing the player base a service. The piracy and other related activities surface down the line a bit.

Now, they're not afraid to admit that the piracy was the intended endgame.

It's a shame, too. The Wii U was already hurting for third-party support, and this isn't going to help at all.

That's not correct at all. The homebrew scene typically goes above an beyond to remove anything that smells of piracy from their websites. These particular guys may only be in it for the piracy, and thus wouldn't really even be considered IN the homebrew scene, but generally speaking workarounds and exploits are found by people who are; they are just trying to run their own code on the console they own, to open up the scene or just because they can.

And in other news: Nintendo sold 5 additional consoles today based on the buyers anticipation of being able to play pirated games in the near future.

And another 50,000 returned their systems to the retailer they purchased them from with the reasoning "I'd rather wait for the PS4".

You jest, but so far I am really disappointed in my 32GB black Wii U. I really am considering returning it. I was gonna get a PS4 anyway.

EDIT: I softmodded my Wii so that I could back up my legitimate Wii games. Games like Metroid Prime Trilogy are very expensive to find and if I can keep mine in perfect condition without wear and tear on the actual disc, then I will. I've also enabled the DVD playback that Nintendo lied and said was impossible on the system.

DVD is impossible on the Wii....because Nintendo didn't want to pay the licencing fees associated with enabling DVD playback! That said you really have nothing else to play DVDs hooked up to your TV other than a Wii?

They could have made an application that you can buy on the Store.

This way you don't increase the cost of the console, and only those who want it pay for it.

Normally, hacker groups first publish these exploits under the banner of "enabling homebrew and unlicensed software" as if they were doing the player base a service. The piracy and other related activities surface down the line a bit.

Now, they're not afraid to admit that the piracy was the intended endgame.

It's a shame, too. The Wii U was already hurting for third-party support, and this isn't going to help at all.

Just because it can only play officially licensed titles does not make this a stock piracy addition.

I for one, was taught about this thing called "Copy-Right" and "Backups" about 20 years ago when I was in grade school. (Okay it was 20 years ago exactly.) It was one of two excellent lessons I took away from computer time in my school library. NEVER use the original media if it can be avoided. Copyright allows me to make back-ups on various different mediums, as long as I am only actively using one copy, or one copy per license. (Which at the time was described to me as ownership of the original physical disc for most software, but for others I was shown a folder with a stack of yellow papers because I was curious which were site licenses for various programs we used.)

The other important thing I learned back in 1993? Ctrl+S. Every time I typed a period, it became a habit for me to hit CTRL+S. I can't count the number of times I watched class mates nearly in tears losing 30min to an hour of work while I smugly sat and rebooted, typing the last 6 words I lost. "Mr. Westgarth told us to save frequently."

Anecdotes aside, the point is. I would legitimately use this to run the software I purchase, or receive at Christmas as a gift, not as a way to defraud the industry. I like having new games and big titles to play. I like Nintendo, and seriously hope for the best with their business endeavours, when they do well, we reap the benefits.

And in other news: Nintendo sold 5 additional consoles today based on the buyers anticipation of being able to play pirated games in the near future.

And another 50,000 returned their systems to the retailer they purchased them from with the reasoning "I'd rather wait for the PS4".

You jest, but so far I am really disappointed in my 32GB black Wii U. I really am considering returning it. I was gonna get a PS4 anyway.

EDIT: I softmodded my Wii so that I could back up my legitimate Wii games. Games like Metroid Prime Trilogy are very expensive to find and if I can keep mine in perfect condition without wear and tear on the actual disc, then I will. I've also enabled the DVD playback that Nintendo lied and said was impossible on the system.

DVD is impossible on the Wii....because Nintendo didn't want to pay the licencing fees associated with enabling DVD playback! That said you really have nothing else to play DVDs hooked up to your TV other than a Wii?

I barely have any DVDs thanks to having a near-launch PS3 and Blu-rays, but it's really the principle of the thing. Another nice touch is turning off the background music on the menu, disabling the health warning screen so it boots right to the menu, changing the menu scheme to black, making the system region free, and disabling save-copy protection. I've also got a media streamer on there, which is good because I spent a lot of time in my basement working out and I can stream music from my PC on the basement TV. Also, the load times on Gamecube games running from the hard drive is mind-blowing compared to the disc. Plus, emulators for nearly every Nintendo system.

I buy the games on VC, but I emulate the ones that aren't there or that I own for the original systems. Honestly, I don't use it for piracy at all, and I use it a lot more than I did before softmodding it.

Normally, hacker groups first publish these exploits under the banner of "enabling homebrew and unlicensed software" as if they were doing the player base a service. The piracy and other related activities surface down the line a bit.

Now, they're not afraid to admit that the piracy was the intended endgame.

It's a shame, too. The Wii U was already hurting for third-party support, and this isn't going to help at all.

Normally, hacker groups first publish these exploits under the banner of "enabling homebrew and unlicensed software" as if they were doing the player base a service. The piracy and other related activities surface down the line a bit.

Now, they're not afraid to admit that the piracy was the intended endgame.

It's a shame, too. The Wii U was already hurting for third-party support, and this isn't going to help at all.

This is incorrect. This "hacker group" isn't really a hacker group. They've always been a pirate group. They make modchips for piracy and never tried to hide the fact. You are confusing them with "Team Twiizers" who hacked the original Wii system. That hacking group did take huge steps to prevent piracy. They even reported a bug to Nintendo because the bug would only help piracy and had no use for the homebrew scene. They also keep certain exploits secret to prevent pirates from using them.

The comments and information flying around about this hack and what it supposedly 'adds' to the console just really highlight how crappy Nintendo has been about marketing what this console can actually do.

Case in point: YOU CAN ALREADY USE AN EXTERNAL USB HARD DRIVE FOR GAMES WITH THE WII U, WITH NO HACKS.

Now, you can't buy a disc and then install that disc to the USB hard drive. YOU CAN however purchase a game on the eShop and have it save and run from the external USB device. I have a bog-standard 2.5-inch 500 gig USB drive hooked up to mine (a Western Digital). Unlike MS with the 360, Nintendo don't make you pay exorbitant prices for proprietary storage. So yeah, my Black 32GB Wii U is actually a Black 532GB Wii U.

Did I mention that all new full releases get an eShop release simultaneously with their disc release? Yeah, so playing full games off a USB device with no discs is a real thing you can do on a Wii U right now, legitimately.

I also find it HIGHLY HIGHLY offensive that this group gets lumped in with the homebrewers, as others have mentioned. Homebrew is not about piracy. I homebrewed my Wii to mess around, install the disc games I had and just generally because I could. I'm not interested in piracy. I DO like the convenience of digital distribution. It's so frustrating that Nintendo gets this so right, yet they're not telling people about it and so you get crap like this, where people think "OMG this thing lets you play games off USB! how new!". Argh.

Nintendo have made a great little machine, but man they've dropped the ball on marketing it.

Normally, hacker groups first publish these exploits under the banner of "enabling homebrew and unlicensed software" as if they were doing the player base a service. The piracy and other related activities surface down the line a bit.

Now, they're not afraid to admit that the piracy was the intended endgame.

It's a shame, too. The Wii U was already hurting for third-party support, and this isn't going to help at all.

To be fair, that typically IS why people hack these things, its other people that come up with the nefarious.

Normally, hacker groups first publish these exploits under the banner of "enabling homebrew and unlicensed software" as if they were doing the player base a service. The piracy and other related activities surface down the line a bit.

Now, they're not afraid to admit that the piracy was the intended endgame.

That is actually very wrong. Most people qualified to break into modern secured hardware devices aren't criminals and those that are have far more lucrative opportunities to make money - why should the hack a console? The typical console hacker is the guy who wants Linux on the fancy new device - or on anything, really. As is evidenced by the PS3: unhacked for years until Sony disabled Linux by a forced firmware upgrade. 3 weeks later it was hacked. And then come the game crackers and do the much easier job of allowing it to easily install game copies.

New rumors suggest the box will have the capability but enforcement methods are up to the individual studios

AKA the "big boys" of gaming(EA, Activision, Ubisoft) can take the real blame and not microsoft. Also if Sony doesn't offer some type of similar system MS can then use that to have leverage for exclusivity.

There were already games released through PSN on the PS3 that required an online connection to play, even single player only games (e.g. Bionic Commando Rearmed 2 is one of them), and the games did not have the same requirements on the XBOX 360. Developers have already done this and will probably do this again on both the PS4 and the next XBOX. It's unlikely the consoles will require an online connection, it will be the games.

The comments and information flying around about this hack and what it supposedly 'adds' to the console just really highlight how crappy Nintendo has been about marketing what this console can actually do.

Case in point: YOU CAN ALREADY USE AN EXTERNAL USB HARD DRIVE FOR GAMES WITH THE WII U, WITH NO HACKS.

Now, you can't buy a disc and then install that disc to the USB hard drive. YOU CAN however purchase a game on the eShop and have it save and run from the external USB device. I have a bog-standard 2.5-inch 500 gig USB drive hooked up to mine (a Western Digital). Unlike MS with the 360, Nintendo don't make you pay exorbitant prices for proprietary storage. So yeah, my Black 32GB Wii U is actually a Black 532GB Wii U.

Did I mention that all new full releases get an eShop release simultaneously with their disc release? Yeah, so playing full games off a USB device with no discs is a real thing you can do on a Wii U right now, legitimately.

I also find it HIGHLY HIGHLY offensive that this group gets lumped in with the homebrewers, as others have mentioned. Homebrew is not about piracy. I homebrewed my Wii to mess around, install the disc games I had and just generally because I could. I'm not interested in piracy. I DO like the convenience of digital distribution. It's so frustrating that Nintendo gets this so right, yet they're not telling people about it and so you get crap like this, where people think "OMG this thing lets you play games off USB! how new!". Argh.

Nintendo have made a great little machine, but man they've dropped the ball on marketing it.

I hear you.

As it stands right now the only game that I really want on the Wii U is Bayonetta 2. Otherwise, there is pretty much NOTHING going on with this device...

I agree with the very first comment that if this console gets fully unlocked, then it should move a few more units. At that point it will be too little too late. The marketing surrounding this thing has been HORRIBLY BAD, and with the news of this console getting hacked... well that'll destroy what little confidence there is with 3rd party devs...

Nintendo thought they could strike it lucky a 2nd time without putting in the damn effort to make this work. They really have no one to blame but themselves for this catastrophic failure...

You gotta spend money to make money Nintendo... Take some notes from Microsoft...

And in other news: Nintendo sold 5 additional consoles today based on the buyers anticipation of being able to play pirated games in the near future.

And another 50,000 returned their systems to the retailer they purchased them from with the reasoning "I'd rather wait for the PS4".

You jest, but so far I am really disappointed in my 32GB black Wii U. I really am considering returning it. I was gonna get a PS4 anyway.

EDIT: I softmodded my Wii so that I could back up my legitimate Wii games. Games like Metroid Prime Trilogy are very expensive to find and if I can keep mine in perfect condition without wear and tear on the actual disc, then I will. I've also enabled the DVD playback that Nintendo lied and said was impossible on the system.

DVD is impossible on the Wii....because Nintendo didn't want to pay the licencing fees associated with enabling DVD playback! That said you really have nothing else to play DVDs hooked up to your TV other than a Wii?

I barely have any DVDs thanks to having a near-launch PS3 and Blu-rays, but it's really the principle of the thing. Another nice touch is turning off the background music on the menu, disabling the health warning screen so it boots right to the menu, changing the menu scheme to black, making the system region free, and disabling save-copy protection. I've also got a media streamer on there, which is good because I spent a lot of time in my basement working out and I can stream music from my PC on the basement TV. Also, the load times on Gamecube games running from the hard drive is mind-blowing compared to the disc. Plus, emulators for nearly every Nintendo system.

I buy the games on VC, but I emulate the ones that aren't there or that I own for the original systems. Honestly, I don't use it for piracy at all, and I use it a lot more than I did before softmodding it.

I have done all that and more with my Wii. I love the super fast loading times I get from playing games off my USB drive instead of a disc since I ripped my whole library to it.my point was that the scrappy DVD player that you can dump on the Wii isn't great.

That is actually very wrong. Most people qualified to break into modern secured hardware devices aren't criminals and those that are have far more lucrative opportunities to make money - why should the hack a console? The typical console hacker is the guy who wants Linux on the fancy new device - or on anything, really. As is evidenced by the PS3: unhacked for years until Sony disabled Linux by a forced firmware upgrade. 3 weeks later it was hacked. And then come the game crackers and do the much easier job of allowing it to easily install game copies.

Really the 'homebrew' scene has only been a major factor recently, and even then it's usually been the pirate groups that have 'won' first. On portable systems typically both have been enabled at the same time, but for disc-based consoles not named "Playstation 3" drive chips have come out long before any homebrew enablers. The original Wii for example had drive chips as few as four months after launch; it took a year longer for the Twilight Hack to be polished and released.

Normally, hacker groups first publish these exploits under the banner of "enabling homebrew and unlicensed software" as if they were doing the player base a service. The piracy and other related activities surface down the line a bit.

Now, they're not afraid to admit that the piracy was the intended endgame.

That is actually very wrong. Most people qualified to break into modern secured hardware devices aren't criminals and those that are have far more lucrative opportunities to make money - why should the hack a console? The typical console hacker is the guy who wants Linux on the fancy new device - or on anything, really. As is evidenced by the PS3: unhacked for years until Sony disabled Linux by a forced firmware upgrade. 3 weeks later it was hacked. And then come the game crackers and do the much easier job of allowing it to easily install game copies.

I don't understand how this particular bit of misinformation keeps getting repeated. Sony disabled OtherOS as a result of GeoHot's PS3 hack, not the other way around.

The comments and information flying around about this hack and what it supposedly 'adds' to the console just really highlight how crappy Nintendo has been about marketing what this console can actually do.

Case in point: YOU CAN ALREADY USE AN EXTERNAL USB HARD DRIVE FOR GAMES WITH THE WII U, WITH NO HACKS.

Now, you can't buy a disc and then install that disc to the USB hard drive. YOU CAN however purchase a game on the eShop and have it save and run from the external USB device. I have a bog-standard 2.5-inch 500 gig USB drive hooked up to mine (a Western Digital). Unlike MS with the 360, Nintendo don't make you pay exorbitant prices for proprietary storage. So yeah, my Black 32GB Wii U is actually a Black 532GB Wii U.

Did I mention that all new full releases get an eShop release simultaneously with their disc release? Yeah, so playing full games off a USB device with no discs is a real thing you can do on a Wii U right now, legitimately.

I also find it HIGHLY HIGHLY offensive that this group gets lumped in with the homebrewers, as others have mentioned. Homebrew is not about piracy. I homebrewed my Wii to mess around, install the disc games I had and just generally because I could. I'm not interested in piracy. I DO like the convenience of digital distribution. It's so frustrating that Nintendo gets this so right, yet they're not telling people about it and so you get crap like this, where people think "OMG this thing lets you play games off USB! how new!". Argh.

Nintendo have made a great little machine, but man they've dropped the ball on marketing it.

Excuse me, but I like buying games on discs so that I can resell them if need be, and I also like playing them from USB hard drives so they don't get scratched. If Nintendo is getting its money, is there really anything wrong with getting both?

The comments and information flying around about this hack and what it supposedly 'adds' to the console just really highlight how crappy Nintendo has been about marketing what this console can actually do.

Case in point: YOU CAN ALREADY USE AN EXTERNAL USB HARD DRIVE FOR GAMES WITH THE WII U, WITH NO HACKS.

Now, you can't buy a disc and then install that disc to the USB hard drive. YOU CAN however purchase a game on the eShop and have it save and run from the external USB device. I have a bog-standard 2.5-inch 500 gig USB drive hooked up to mine (a Western Digital). Unlike MS with the 360, Nintendo don't make you pay exorbitant prices for proprietary storage. So yeah, my Black 32GB Wii U is actually a Black 532GB Wii U.

Did I mention that all new full releases get an eShop release simultaneously with their disc release? Yeah, so playing full games off a USB device with no discs is a real thing you can do on a Wii U right now, legitimately.

I also find it HIGHLY HIGHLY offensive that this group gets lumped in with the homebrewers, as others have mentioned. Homebrew is not about piracy. I homebrewed my Wii to mess around, install the disc games I had and just generally because I could. I'm not interested in piracy. I DO like the convenience of digital distribution. It's so frustrating that Nintendo gets this so right, yet they're not telling people about it and so you get crap like this, where people think "OMG this thing lets you play games off USB! how new!". Argh.

Nintendo have made a great little machine, but man they've dropped the ball on marketing it.

Excuse me, but I like buying games on discs so that I can resell them if need be, and I also like playing them from USB hard drives so they don't get scratched. If Nintendo is getting its money, is there really anything wrong with getting both?

Oh yeah I totally agree with you; I wasn't saying that people SHOULDN'T be able to buy discs and rip them to USB for their own use. My ire was with the perception that many of the headlines show (see TechCrunch for example) are basically "This mod lets you play games off USB" which to me reads like "the Wii U can't play games off USB as it is". Nintendo certainly has bigger marketing issues than this (people thinking the Wii U is just a Wii accessory, etc). These are what I can't understand - Ninty rushed a perfectly good console to market when they didn't have to, then squandered the lead they have over MS and Sony timing-wise by doing absolutely nothing with it.

I'd love for some workable system, where for example you could buy a disc, then have the option of ripping it and/or having some kind of one-time-use code or authentication that would let you auth that disc to your eShop account, so in the future you could redownload the game if you wanted to. The problem with just straight ripping is that well, what's to stop you from buying a copy then ripping it to all your friend's consoles (but yeah, not everyone has fast broadband that would let them take advantage of downloads, so some kind of ripping solution would be great). I can see why such a system is difficult to get right.

Maybe eShop orders but they mail you out a disc-less box (so you still get something nice-looking to put on your shelf). Who knows....

Also; I don't believe no-resale is a technical limitation of digital distribution. It's just something that distributors (even Steam) have chosen to do (FWIW though, Steam prices are so good that IMHO there's often no real point to resale; it's not like the game is taking up physical space in your house that you need back).

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in the Washington, DC area.